


King of Yggdrasil

by Oh_Toasty



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: BAMF Tony Stark, Character Death, Chitauri - Freeform, Death from Old Age, Frigga is queen, God Tony, Immortal Tony Stark, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Infinity Gauntlet, Jotun Loki, M/M, Monogamy, Old Age, The Tree Of Life, Yggdrasil - Freeform, Yggdrasil is a real tree
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-17
Updated: 2016-08-17
Packaged: 2018-08-09 07:39:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7792681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oh_Toasty/pseuds/Oh_Toasty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They think him a heartless, corrupt man who ruled Yggdrasil with fear. They do not remember the kindness he held in his heart before Odin came and slandered his name with a false history.</p><p>They think him gone, they think their king had killed him long, long ago. They do not realize all the All-Father has done is claim a title that does not belong to him as he is servant to the whims of another.</p><p>They do not realize Yggdrasil is his, his to rule, and when the time comes, his to end.<br/>They are fools.</p>
            </blockquote>





	King of Yggdrasil

**Author's Note:**

> This got out of control...

They think him a heartless, corrupt man who ruled Yggdrasil with fear. They do not remember the kindness he held in his heart before Odin came and slandered his name with a false history.

They think him gone, they think their king had killed him long, long ago. They do not realize all the All-Father has done is claim a title that does not belong to him as he is servant to the whims of another.

They do not realize Yggdrasil is his, his to rule, and when the time comes, his to end.  
They are fools.

-

He laughs as he watches his plans come to fruition, watches two false kings wage a war he has orchestrated. Yes, he thinks as Odin retaliates against Laufey's invasion of Midgard, Yggdrasil is still mine and Midgard will prosper on its own. Let this be a warning to all.

Everything goes as planned, Odin does as he is told and retrieves The Casket of Ancient Winters. He laughs happily until he notices the False King come to a stop and pick something up from a ceremonial altar in front of an ice temple.

A child.

He snarls in rage, he did not tell Odin to do this, he has no love for a child stealer and even now he brindled with rage as the child's thread of fate changes for the worse.

-  
Frigga and Odin present the babe to court nine days later. Little Thor, merely one hundred year old, stares at his so called brother with wide eyes

The court claps and raises their glasses as Odin prepares to announce the child's name.

He doesn't get the chance.

Even as he opens his mouth another voice fills the room. Nobles look around, searching for the source, but none can seem to find it.

"Odin, Odin, Odin," The voice says and none notice how their king slumps down in his throne. "I'm so disappointed In you."

"Show yourself," a noble cries leaping to his feet and drawing a sword.

"Turn around little boy," the voice whispers and as the noble turns he finds himself disarmed, his weapon flying through the air.

He is face to face with a pair of steely brown eyes and he wonders if perhaps this is how he will end. There is death in those eyes.

"Enough," Odin cries and the unknown man snaps his attention to the throne dropping the noble who challenged him. A smile curved his lips, "Odin."

"Why have you come?" Odin asks and there is a rush of wind. The stranger disappears and reappears behind Odin with a dagger to his throat in the blink of an eye.

"Do not take that tone with me," he instructs. His weapon nicks flesh and a bead of blood wells up.

Thor whimpers into his mother's shoulder, where he has been swept up moments ago. The stolen child is silent in his crib.

"I will tell you why I'm here, though you were less than kind when you asked." He smiles, but it's to angry to be from amusement. "I'm here because of the Jotun child you stole from Jotunheim's holy grounds. He was meant for great things and now you've ruined it. Already, his string of fate is different and that, that is unacceptable."

The whole court gasps as their eyes flicker over to the King's newest child, they had not known his origins.

"I allowed you to act as a king," the stranger snarls. "I let you exercise false claim over my domain and I let this realm grow. What do you do instead of thanking me? You steal a child from a sacred temple and leave me to clean up the mess you have made of fate. No more, you will thank me now."

The stranger releases Odin and pushes him to the ground, watching as he trembles.

"Thank you." Odin says quietly.

The stranger shakes his head, "I can't hear you."

Odin repeats himself, far louder this time and the other smiles.

"Now, say thank you my King."

Odin shakes his head and is kicked back to the ground. From there a booted foot lands on his throat applying crushing force.

"You will do what I say, or it will not be you to suffer," the stranger says voice quiet enough for only Odin to hear. The pressure is removed and Odin sits upright slowly.

"Thank you... My King."

"Good," the man says. "Now kiss my boots."

There's a brief moment of hesitation, then Odin does as instructed. There's a dagger through his other eye and in his brain before he even finishes pulling away.

The stranger steps over him and towards the crib with a still silent baby. Frigga lets him.

"I'll be taking him now," the stranger pulls the baby into his arms and if his smile softens faintly as the child turns blue, no one can tell. He turns to Frigga, "I expect you to do better than your husband; do not forget who this land truly belongs to."

"I will not," Frigga says as her eyes drift over to Odin's corpse. and her grip on Thor tightens. "I cannot, but first let me ask, who are you?"

"I am King of Yggdrasil," the man says. "Your husband told stories of defeating me, I know. But they were lies, things to boost the esteem with which he is held. Your people cannot defeat me, Frigga. I am the one who planted Yggdrasil, I grew her. I allowed your realms to stay, decided not to prune these fruits from her, but heed my words I will if need be."

"I understand," Frigga answers voice quiet.

"Well than," the stranger says, "I have a gift for you, a sort of welcome to the throne. Tell me what the child was to be named, and that will be as he is called."

"Loki," Frigga says, voice soft.

Then the man and child are gone leaving behind only the lingering words, "Then Loki he shall be."

-

He keeps the child, raises him by himself among the branches of Yggdrasil. He admires the little child, the way the child can make him feel. He feels love, an emotion he has not felt since before this place, before Yggdrasil.

He does not look at Loki's thread of fate, not since he has taken the boy in. He cannot if he wishes to keep the boy in his life.

He smiles when Loki's first word is a botched version of his name, though he nearly cringes at how wrong it sounds garbled as it is. He quickly gives up on his true name and Loki adopts a nickname for him.

Tony.

-

As Loki grows, Tony takes him on trips across the nine realms, tells stories of how they've grown. In Asgard, he remarks on how the realm flourishes under Frigga's rule. Jotunheimr, he teaches Loki to access the ice magic within his core and they do what they can to help repair the still war-torn land.

"It's a shame," Tony says, "How long it is taking this realm to recover, though I suppose it is a fair warning to all what happens when someone decides to target a realm that is not theirs."

Loki nods in understanding as he watches the Jotnar try and rebuild.

-

"Tony," he asks much later, "If I'm from Jotunheim, which realm are you from?"  
He receives laughter as his answer along with a hand ruffling his hair, "I'll tell you when you're older. Come now my little Prince, we've places to be."

-  
Loki loves when Tony encourages the mischief he causes. Laughs, when Tony joins in with him. He gets the feeling that nobody else would love him enough to indulge this part of him. That nobody else would be crazy enough to love him.  
Blue fingers entwined with Tony's tan ones he laughs as they run for their lives.

-

Tony is grateful everyday that he took Loki from Odin. Now, he has someone to enjoy Yggdrasil with him. His little prince does not suffer under the hand of a false king, and Tony's not being eaten away at by the horrible loneliness he had felt since Yggdrasil became a part of his life.

-

Loki is much older when he rages at Tony for the first time, "By the Norns, I am not a child, stop treating me as such."

"You're right," Tony agrees with a heavy sigh. "Of course you are, I have been blind, to close to see how you've changed because of how gradual it has been."

"Thank you," Loki says and he turns around briefly to collect the vambrace he had thrown in frustration.

When he turns again, Tony is gone a piece of paper flutters towards the ground where he had been. Hesitantly, Loki grabs the paper and brings it close.

_Loki,_   
_You're right, you aren't a child and you don't need me to coddle you like one. You have outgrown your need for me, you are not the child I took from Odin's grasp. I wish you the best as you find your own way._   
_May we meet again, Tony_

Loki falls to his knees, paper clutched to his chest. He can not find it in him to cry.

-

When Loki finally rises to his feet, he does not take anything from their home. Instead, he walks slowly among the branches of Yggdrasil, searching for purpose.

-

Tony looks upon Loki's thread of fate again, sees the happiness in his thread and wants to scream. Instead, he turns on his heel and walks away.

He does not see that with every step he goes the light of Loki's happiness dims.

-

Tony arrives on Midgard angry and hurting. As he sits in the a cafe chair he watches a line of cars back down the alley and his eye catches on a man. Something about him screams important and Tony cannot abide that at the moment.

Important men remind him of Odin, Odin who had he not stole Loki could have prevented the pain Tony is in now.

Tony stands, summons a Midgardian weapon and fires off two shots, one for the man and the other for his wife.

It is not until later that he learns the man's name: Archduke Ferdinand

The Great War ensues and Tony cannot help a bitter laugh.

Loki would have loved how much chaos one man's death could bring.

-

Loki goes to Jotunheim, finds his mother, his father, his brothers. They welcome him with open arms.

They call him Loptr and offer him the title of prince.

He declines, he is already Prince of Yggdrasil- Tony's prince. Anything else would would be to go down in status.

He misses Tony, but he makes his own path.

-

"The people say I will be a good king," Thor says as he sits at his mother's feet.

Her eyes flash, "You will not be a king. Do not forget, we do not rule this land, The Tyrant does. We simply safeguard Asgard, do not forget that, no matter what the people say."

-

"Tony," Someone says and he stops scrying though he still hums in approval. He knew Frigga was a good choice. "Go join the raiding party."

With a sigh, he obeys hustling over to the group of men who were to be sent over top of the trench in hopes of attacking the other side. They have a chance at success, nighttime is a good cover, but it's still slim.

Tony goes with them and when bullets begin to rain upon them, he laughs. The sound is turned into a gurgle as a bullet slides through his throat and he falls to his knees.

As he crawls off the the battlefield, he misses Loki.

-

Tony disappears after that, they never find his body. He's one of the many undocumented losses in The Great War.

Once done with in his involvement in the war, Tony travels. It could be enjoyable, probably would be if he doesn't spend every stop thinking of the places he used to take Loki.

Then he shakes his head and remembers he's doing what's best for his Little Prince

-

He gives up on the name Tony, it's not his, not truly. It's nothing but a painful reminder of who is missing from his side.  
He becomes Howard Stark and he builds a legacy.

-

Steve Rogers is the opposite of Loki, Howard befriends him in an attempt to stifle memories of Loki.

It doesn't work.

-

Loki watches Jotunheim in boredom, he is lost now that he's helped rebuild his home realm. He doesn't know what to do.  
He finds himself missing the rough bark of Yggdrasil and wondering how it is that even now it isn't Jotunheim or his family that feels like home.

-

Howard Stark marries a lovely girl named Maria and for all the times the press gushes over her, they never notice the obvious. She only goes out in public when Howard is at home, or with her. They never go to separate places at the same time.  
After all, the magic required to sustain a glamor on himself and a double in separate places would be draining. No, it's far better to play at being Howard and his wife one at a time, or together, not separate.

-

Loki makes a mistake, and now, he thinks as he watches blood pool beneath the hand he has pressed to his gut, he's paying for it.

He had come to Asgard in his boredom. He had used a glamor, covered up his blue flesh with a paleness uncommon among the Æsir but well suited for his features.  
The glamor made no difference. Not when his Jotun scent attracted a bilgesnipe. Perhaps, had he not been caught unawares, he could have dealt with the animal easily. But, as it is, Loki had been distracted with thoughts of the past until a large horn had run through him. Then, he had managed to escape, run farther in the forest.

Now though, now far to much of his magic is going into preventing death by blood loss. He cannot even maintain his Æsir glamor, and he knows the bilgesnipe will be following the scent of his blood trail.  
Weary, Loki closes his eyes.

-

Loki opens his eyes again, which already is more than he expected, he is in a bed and warmth, which takes Jotunheim off of his list of possible realms he's occupying.  
He knew before even opening his eyes it is not his home in Yggdrasil's branches.

"You are a fool," a gruff voice says and Loki freezes because he knows that voice. "I will not lecture you though, I know-"

He is cut off when Loki launches himself into his lap.

"Tony," Loki hums. "I've missed you."

This time it is Tony who freezes and Loki pulls his head away from Tony's chest where he was listening to the beat of his heart.

"Tony?" He asks worriedly. "Are you alright?"

"Fine, my Loki." Tony hums. "Simply surprised."

Loki's brows furrow, "Why would you be surprised, of course I've missed you!"

"I could not be sure," Tony says with a shrug, but Loki can see there is more to it.

He will find out, but for now he is content to let the matter rest.

"Be sure now," Loki says setting his head back down. "I will always miss you, even when you leave. After all, it's only fair that if I am your Loki, you are my Tony."

"You have a point," Tony concedes, "But I'm actually going by the name Howard right now."

"I do not like it," Loki's nose wrinkles and Tony can not hold back his laughter.

"Don't worry, the baby my wife is having will be named better."

Loki is out of his lap and across the room by the time Tony finishes his sentence.

"You have a wife? And she is with child?"

He can't quite understand the sinking feeling in his gut, but he chalks it up to the fact that it has always been him and Tony with nobody else.

"No," Tony reassures though he too isn't sure why he feels the need. "She's not real, the mortals simply believe she is. They don't have the magic to tell any different."

Loki barely spares a glance at the illusion Tony summons, he doesn't need to in order to know what it is. "Tell me then, we are on Midgard, how has it changed?"  
Tony tells him.

-

Loki refuses to leave, instead he inserts himself into Tony's life by taking Maria's form. Tony allows it, doesn't think of what it will mean for the two of them.

-

Howard Stark marries a lovely girl named Maria and for all the times the press gushes over her, they never notice the obvious. She never used to go out in public when Howard was somewhere else, until she suddenly changes. At one point in time, she comes to life more than she ever done before. The press exclaims over how lively she's become, Loki teases Tony that his Maria is the better one.

-

"What do you intend to do with the false child," Loki asks one day as he runs his hand along the pregnancy bump that comes along with Maria's form.

Tony looks up from the weapons he's designing, "I was simply cultivating a new identity, humans have painfully short lives and I wasn't expecting to see you again."

"I suppose I'll have to find my own false identity," Loki mutters. "I do believe I'll use my natural visage, I tire of holding a woman's form."

A smile curves Tony's lips. "Do as you wish, I think we've long since established I'm not in charge here."

Loki returns his smile, "Glad to see we understand one another."

-

"Mr. Stark, Mrs. Stark," a reporter calls out and Tony looks over at the microphone being shoved into his face. "What do you have to say about the rumors that the pregnancy is ruining your relationship?"

"What rumors?" Loki asks his voice feminine and sultry.

The reporter gulps, "Ever since the pregnancy was announced physical intimacy between you two has been seen reducing drastically, any comments?"

Tony growls internally, he'd known there'd be problems from Loki assuming Maria's identity, but he hadn't expected this.

"Oh," Loki purrs, "Don't worry about our intimacy, everything is fine there."

Then Loki turns into Tony's arms and presses his lips to Tony's fiercely. It's intense, and Tony realizes with a shock that Loki wants this, wants this intimacy to belong to the real them.

Tony pulls away and smiles at the reporter, "Don't worry about us, we're fine."

Tony looks at Loki's conflicted expression and knows that not everything is fine.

-

"What was that?" Tony growls as they step inside and he drops his glamor.

Loki shrugs still in his Maria guise, "Just keeping up the ruse."

"Loki," Tony says warningly. "Drop the disguise, I want to have this conversation with you."

Loki allows his Maria form to slide away, though he still wears the form that he wears when he walks among the Aesir. Tony simply arches a brow and waits the younger god out until he sighs and allows his blue skin to return.

"Happy?" Loki replies and he sounds resigned.

Tony shakes his head, "Not quite. Loki, we need to talk about this."

"Why," Loki wonders, "Why do we need to talk about this? What is there to talk about?"

Tony runs a hand through his hair, "Why'd you kiss me like that? What do you want from me?"

Loki's cheeks flush a deep blue in his frustration, "I love you, I want you to love me back!"

Tony pinches the bridge of his nose, "You can't love me, I raised you. It's wrong."

"Tony," Loki whispers as he pulls at Tony's hands and holds them in his own. "You aren't my parent, at best you were a mentor. But you were always a friend to me before anything else. Are you really so shocked that I fell in love with you?"

"You're in love with me because you don't have anyone else," Tony rasps, but he doesn't pull his hands away.

Loki shushes him, "That's not true. I've met plenty of people in the time we were apart, had plenty of chances to fall in love. I want you, Tony; that is if you'll have me?"

Tony's throat is dry as he squeezes Loki's hand and nods slowly, "I'll have you Loki, as long as you'll let me."

-

The headlines announce the birth of a healthy baby boy, Anthony Edward Stark.

"Why Anthony?" Loki murmurs from where his head is resting on Tony's chest.

Tony smiles, his fingers tracing the heritage lines that are spattered throughout Loki's skin, "For the nickname most mortals with the name use."

"What's that?" Loki wonders as his fingers tap out tunes on Tony's

A smile curls along the elder's lips, "Tony."

-

"I believe it's time to kill off my current identity," Tony muses in Loki's ears as they pose together with the glamoured clone that's acting as their so called son.

"Why's that?" Loki murmurs with a bright smile to the camera.

"Time for college," Tony explains with a nod towards the clone. "We can't keep this up without one of us constantly being around the clone, and it is my identity."

As they climb into a limo, Loki pouts. "When you kill off Howard, I have to kill Maria. I can't act as both your mother and your lover."

-

Howard becomes a recluse in his final years, while Maria is seen out and about more than ever. Howard is only ever seen with her, never out and about on his own.

Tony thrives at MIT.

-

"I'm sorry about your parents," a voice says as Tony sits in a bar and pretends to get drunk over the death of his so-called parents.

Tony's eyes flick over to the left and he almost laughs as he sees a woman besides hm in a tight green dress. Tony turns to face her with a smile.

"Wanna come show me how sorry you are, Lady Loki?"

They leave the bar in a hurry.

-

"I'm bored," Loki complains, this time in his natural blue form. "At least as Maria I had a social life, now I'm no one. I don't have an identity."

Tony rolls his eyes, "I offered to fake another child so you had an identity."

"I'm not going to pretend to be related to my lover." Loki dismisses his suggestion.

"You could visit your family on Jotunheim until this identity is burnt out. It should only be seventy years or so."

Loki huffs, "You had better plan on visiting me."

"Of course," Tony reassures, then he looks up as his ward is tripped. "Rhodey's back, you should head out."

Loki disappears as the door opens.

-

  
“I tire of playing a different woman each night for you,” Loki complains as Tony runs his hands through his hair.

Tony kisses his brow, “You don't have to if you don't want to, it's just easier for you to have alternating identities so we don't have to forge one for you.”

Loki huffs, “I believe I’ll go walk Yggdrasil for awhile. Perhaps I'll check in on the realms.”

“Check in on Asgard,” Tony hums. “I've seen Frigga through scrying, but it's better to have a first hand account.”

When Loki leaves, it's with a promise that he’ll stay in contact and be home in twenty or so years.

-

Time passes, and Tony misses Loki. They communicate through magic, but it doesn't make up for the lose of actual contact. Still he understands why Loki has no desire to stay in a world where he wore a false skin and had no real identity.

Tony tries not to think of how nearly everything about his own life is as false as Loki’s Aesir skin. He tries not to think about the fact that he's spoken his true name only to one living being and Loki has long since forgotten it in favor of his nickname.

Tony drowns his thoughts in Midgard’s alcohol, weak though it may be.

-

As Rhodey shuffles Tony onboard a plane to Afghanistan, Tony feeds Loki magic and energy. In his minds eye, he watches as his lover teaches other Jotun how to use their elemental magic to shape ice into grand structures.

Tony is still feeding Loki magic when his hum-vee is shot at. He breaks the connection off suddenly and gasps as magical backlash hits him. He's weak, weaker than he should have allowed himself to become. He's grown complacent in his time on Midgard, having not faced any serious threats.

Now he's stumbling about from the sudden end to his connection, and nearly helpless as a bomb lands next to him. He throws up a weak shield against the bomb, and thinks of Loki when the blast knocks him unconscious.

-

When Tony wakes up his first words are, “What did you do to me?”

He has yet to sit up, or even open his eyes, but he can feel a humming energy in his chest and that there's a cavity his body should not have.

“I saved you,” a man responds.

Slowly, Tony opens his eyes. He does not say what he wants to, that the man has no idea what he is doing, doesn't know Tony’s physiology. There’s no way the bomb could have killed him, but the possibility of being crippled is there, so Tony lets it go.

“How?” He asks, and the man tells him.

-

He builds a miniature arc reactor and places it in his chest to protect him from the damage that’s already been wrought there. Then he plans human ways to get both him and Yinsen out of the caves; he can't afford to blow his cover as a normal human. Instead he funnels excess magic into his arc reactor and begins a store, even as he plots.

-

Finding a way to sleep without agitating the new addition to his chest is painful, avoiding Loki’s attempts to visit him through dream walking is excruciating.

He does both and focuses on the here and now.

-

Yinsen doesn't make it, Tony does. He wonders what's the point of being Yggdrasil’s king when he can't protect those who deserve it.

-

“I'm shutting down Stark Industries weapons production.”

-

Tony is lost, he doesn't know what to do. He cannot be himself; no being has ever seen his true self before (though Loki has come the closest), but he can no longer be the carefree Tony Stark the world knew. He has to forge a new self: he creates Ironman.

-

He thinks of Loki as he builds. He thinks of Loki and rebirth, how he had let his Little Prince go only to regain him as a lover. He builds Ironman and wonders if this is not his own rebirth, one of many.

He thinks of Yggdrasil, the world tree. He thinks of raising her from a sapling, watching as her realms came to fruitation and pruning away the ones whose time had passed.

-

Time passes, he liberates Gulmira, watches as Obie tries to kill him. He allows the other man to take his reactor, knowing his magic wouldn't let it work for him. Then with his magic actively working to contain his shrapnel, he ambles down to grab his old arc reactor and dons his armor.

He kills Obadiah in his cold, unmoving armor and then takes the pieces with him. It seems rather fitting.

-

He is asked to hold a press conference after Obadiah’s body is found in Stark Industries.

“I don't know who killed him,” Tony says. “But I'm eternally grateful to whoever it was.”

There’s loud clamoring, but Tony continues steadily.

“Not even a day after Obadiah’s death, I found evidence that he was the one who arranged my kidnapping. He intended for me to die though, and I'm only alive due to the greed of terrorists. I'll release the proof to the press tomorrow.”

-

“Loki,” he whispers as he scrys. He watches as Loki, in his Aesir skin, slouches in a bar and speaks quietly to a woman.

“It's not fair, Amora,” Loki says quietly and Tony’s heart clenches as he watches the woman’s hand reach out to grasp his hand. “I know he is watching, but he won't allow me to dream walk with him, or even scry upon him.”

Amora hums quietly, “Why not just return to him?”

“I'm afraid he doesn't want me to.”

-

He allows Loki into his dreams that night, though he's careful to control the dreamscape so that they're in their old home among Yggdrasil’s branches. He does not show his arc reactor.

“Loki,” he breathes hand coming out to touch Loki’s blue cheek.

“Don't,” Loki snaps and Tony pulls his hand away. “I am far to angry for that, why have you been ignoring me?”

“I've been busy,” Tony mutters.

Loki's brows arch, “To busy to acknowledge your lover?”

“No,” Tony admits, “It was more, but forgive an old man his midlife crisis.”

“Make it up to me,” Loki demands and Tony smiles.

Everything would work itself out.

-

“Are we doing anything for your birthday this year?” Pepper asks as she sorts his paperwork for him.

  
His nose wrinkles in distaste, “No thank you, I don't want to celebrate something as meaningless as a birthday, It's not like it's my last chance anyway.”

-

“I'm going to Asgard one last time before I come home,” Loki informs him skin rippling as he changes into Aesir form.

“Will you do me a favor?” Tony asks even as his fingers trail across pale skin in the pattern of his jotun marks.

  
Loki sniffs, “Perhaps, first tell me what it is.”

“Smart boy,” Tony praises. “I'd like you to deliver a message to Frigga.”

-

“Stark,” a man screams as he interrupts the race in Monaco. Tony watches through his television screen with mild curiosity. It takes him a moment, but eventually he places him as a member of the Vanko family.

Then Vanko lashes out with electrical whips and Tony’s amusment fades. With a flick of his hand he uses magic to wrap the man's whips around himself. Vanko trips and his whips short out, allowing the local authorities to come and arrest him.

“Sorry sweetheart,” Tony apologizes patting the briefcase suit at his feet, “Maybe next time.”

-

Loki sits in the throne of Asgard, waiting. He drags his blue fingers along the gold of the throne and watches the icy trail it leaves behind.

“Who goes there?” A loud voice calls out and Loki smiles as he jumps up from the throne.

“You must be Thor,” he purrs eyeing the blond. “Now get out of my way, I want to speak with your mother.”

“Who is it?” Frigga asks, her voice rings throughout the room as she steps past Thor.

“Lady Frigga,” Loki smiles and it could almost be considered warm.

Frigga eyes him slowly, “You don't act as one of the jotun who was raised in their home realm, I can only assume you are Loki.”

“You'd be correct, though you'll address me as Consort to the King of Yggdrasil.”

Frigga’s eyes widen though that's all she shows of her shock. Thor in the other hand, allows his mouth the gape open curiously.

“Very well,” Frigga responds, “What can I do for you and the king?”

“We want the Infinity Gauntlet.”

-

“You shouldn't be doing so well,” a mild mannered voice says from behind him.

Tony turns and raises his brows, “What do you mean Coulson?”

“According to our simulations, you should be dying from heavy metal poisoning.”

Tony shrugs, “I already took care of that problem.”

He has too, though his solution is that he isn't actually affected by the copious amounts of metal inside his body.

-

“You understand that I cannot simply give you a weapon as dangerous as the gauntlet and the stones,” Frigga’s voice is gentle as she leads him across the rainbow bridge. They'd decided to take a walk during their discussion, though Loki is still annoyed that she feels the need to discuss it all.

Loki nods, “I understand why you may not want to, but that doesn't mean you have any right to refuse. The gauntlet is ours.”

“The gauntlet is Asgard’s,” Frigga objects and then she takes a step back. “Thor!”

A hammer flies through the air and Loki slides across the Rainbow Bridge.

-

Tony awaits Loki’s return anxiously. Nerves build up, but he resists the urge to scry Loki in favor of donning his Ironman suit and heading to the Middle East. He spends his night wiping out terrorist cells and is back in time for a meeting with several other clean energy company CEOs the next day.

When he arrives, the news is playing with a simple headline: Who is Ironman?

-

“You’ll regret this,” Loki hisses from where he dangles on the edge of the Bifrost.

Frigga frowns down at him, “I already regret it Lokj. I truly didn't want it to come to this, but I have to make a stand somewhere. The Infinity Gauntlet is not something I am willing to give away.”

Thor nods in agreement, then swings Mjolnir down onto Loki’s fingers.

Mother and son, they stand together and watch Loki fall.

-

Tony wakes up screaming, fear a bitter taste in the back of his throat. The knowledge that something is wrong fills his heads and he scrambles to a mirror where he can scry for Loki.

He watches in horror as he sees Loki fall through the void. He yearns to follow, but he cannot. He would not survive the void and for all that he loves Loki, he still has a duty to Yggdrasil.

So he does not follow Loki.

Instead, Tony sends out a burst of magic that summons his armor. It is not the Ironman armor that appears, but something far older. In shape it is similar to the armor of the Aesir, but otherwise it is far more superior. Instead of Aesir leather, it is composed of dragon scales and Uru plating.

In his rage, the magic in his arc reactor shines so bright it can be seen through his armor.

With an explosion of gold, Tony teleports to Asgard.

-

The fight that ensues is short and brutal, the only reason Tony leaves Thor alive is that he wants Loki to have the honor of killing him. Loki, who he knows is still alive, who's thread of fate doesn't show an end anytime soon.

When he is done, Tony takes Thor’s hammer and throws it over the edge of the Bifrost. Then he walks past the so called royalty of Asgard to the weapon’s vault.

He leaves with the Infinity Gauntlet on his hand and Asgard burning around him. He's far too tired to care about any unnecessary causalities.

-

“Tony,” Pepper says gently. “I'm worried about you.”

“No need,” Tony reassures, “I’m fine.”

Pepper shakes her head, “You're not fine, haven't been for a while now. I'm not going to pry, because I know you won't tell me anything, but you need to get it together. You're slacking off on your CEO duties and the board is complaining.”

“Don't worry about it Pepper,” Tony reassures. “I'll take care of it.”

Pepper leaves, and Tony turns to a mirror scrying for Loki again.

-

He dream walks at night, and sometimes he's lucky enough to find Loki. Loki never looks well, and he tells Tony about Thanos, the being who who found him and holds him captive.

Tony is filled with a destructive anger that rips through him in a whirlwind. He holds that anger tight, in hopes of unleashing it on Thanos one day.

“I should never have sent you after the gauntlet,” Tony says as he kisses Loki’s brow.

“Doesn't matter,” Loki tells him and that's it until the next time they meet.

“Tony,” Loki whispers, to weak to move, even in a dream. “Thanos, he's coming.”

“Coming where?” Tony asks, his hands stroking Loki’s hair out of his face.

“Midgard,” he wheezes. “Gonna invade, using me.”

A smile appears on Tony’s face, “Let him come. He’ll both return you to me and bring death upon himself.”

-

Tesseract energy flows throughout Tony and he smiles, the time is coming for him to get Loki back.

-

“Sir,” Jarvis reports. “It appears Shield has located Master Loki in Stuttgart, Germany.”

Tony smiles, as he wipes grease off on his jeans and reaches for his under suit. “Good. The sooner I rally them, the sooner Thanos will come.”

-

“Ironman,” Captain America calls as Black Wodow comes to back him up. “Stand back, I don't know why you're protecting Loki, but you don't want to. You're a hero.”

Tony rolls his eyes and wonders how he ever managed to befriend the man, even if it was under the guise of Howard and he'd been aching for Loki.

He replies easily, “I know exactly what I am Cap; I also know what Loki is and right now, that's a victim. You think he actually wants to take over the earth?”

“How do you know that?” Loki wonders voice sharp and acidic. “Did Tony tell you?”

“It's me, darling.” Tony thanks Jarvis silently as the AI shows him a feed of the younger god’s reaction. He winces as Loki raises a curious brow that demands an explanation. “I may have been hiding a few things from you before you fell and you may have been too tired afterwards to notice.”

“Tony,” The Widow repeats as he speaks. Then louder she asks, “You're Tony Stark, aren't you?”

If the faceplate didn't cover it, Tony would raise a brow. “You mean to tell me that Shield, a spy agency, didn't know who Ironman is?”

“We had our suspicions,” she replies. “But that's not why we’re here.”

“What do you mean Loki’s the victim?” Captain America interrupts.

“Exactly what he says,” Loki responds, eyeing him cautiously. “I was tortured and coerced. I was simply going along with the plan until Tony arrived.”

The Black Widow’s eyes narrow, “And how did you know Stark would come?”

Loki laughs adopts a tone that implies she's being obtuse, “Tony always comes for me, even when I don't think he will.”

“Of course I do,” Tony says though Captain Rogers speaks over him.

“We're off track here, if you're the victim who put you up to this.”

A scowl appears on Loki’s face as he formulates an answer, but Tony beats him to it.

“Thanos, the Mad Titan. Don't worry about him, i’ll take care of it.” Loki shoots him a poisonous glare and Tony rolls his eyes, “He's mine, darling. I left you Thor and Frigga, though I did burn Asgard down.”

The Widow and Captain stare at them, calculating and curious. Tony smiles lazily, content to leave them that way.

“You guys can fight off the Chitauri, perhaps with Doctor Banner’s help. They shouldn't be too bad, they'll die once Thanos does.”

“And where do you expect us to find Banner?” The Black Widow wonders.

Loki, surprisingly enough, is the one who replies, “Aboard your helicarrier, and should your director be so kind as to send him I’ll release Barton from my control.”

“Deal,” The Widow agrees after listening to her ear piece. “Or it will be if Stark agrees to come in for debriefing on his relationship with you.”

“Sure, i’ll give him twenty minutes,” Tony agrees flippantly as he turns to Loki, “Now darling, where's the portal device?”

“On your tower, dear” Loki answers his voice coated in false sugar. “I wanted to be sure you'd know where to come get me.”

Tony rolls his eyes fondly, “Asshole.” Then he turns his attention back to the others, “See you in New York.”

-

They arrive in time to watch Selvig open a portal that rips the sky in half. Then the gods shrug and amble up to the balcony where the device is perched.

“Ready?” Tony questions.

Loki’s answering grin is fierce and angry, “Always.”

Tony’s eyes glow golden behind his armor as he summons his magic and speaks with a voice that makes the earth tremble yet cannot be heard by mortals. All that happens to them is a trickle of dread and awe down their spines.

“Thanos! Your army has lost its leader, Midgard’s heroes are defeating your forces, and now I have come to challenge you. I am King of Yggdrasil, and if you wish to take this realm you must fight me for it. Prove your worth to Lady Death, take the life of an Immortal.”

Thanos’s voice booms above them, heard by all.

“I accept your challenge,” Then the Titain drops from the sky in a flash of purple, landing directly in front of Loki and Tony.

“Let us duel,” Tony says quietly.

Magic flares instantly, and both the others are gone.

Loki sighs, he'd been hoping to watch the fight, before throwing himself off the building and onto a Chitauri transport. He might as well prevent the city’s destruction while Tony kills Thanos.

-

They flash around the world, exchanging blows of both the physical and magical nature.

They’re in Beijing when Tony gathers enough magic to send them to the home he had shared with Loki among the branches of Yggdrasil. There he pins Thanos to the ground with raw power, amplified by the Infinity Gauntlet he's pulled from a pocket dimension.

Thanos’s eyes widen as he spots it, and he thrashes wildly, “That's mine!”

“No it isn't,” Tony says quietly, as he strokes the gold lovingly, “She's mine. I built her you know, to help me keep Yggdrasil in line.”

Then he shakes his head as if clearing it and stares at Thanos with a small frown.

“As much as I'd like to kill you slowly, there's an alien invasion depending on your quick death.” Tony scratches his beard. “Oh, well.”

Then he aims the gauntlet at Thanos’s head and sends out a burst of magic.

“Hello,” A voice says from behind him and Tony whirls around, hand outstretched and gauntlet aimed. “There's no need for that.”

“Of course,” Tony agrees lowering his arm. “Had I known that that it was you I wouldn't have even thought of it, Mistress Death.”

“I see you've brought me a gift.” Death says and Tony turns to look at Thanos’s corpse.

He nods slowly, “Yes, I suppose I have. Do you accept?”

Death hums, “I'm not sure, he brings me such good nice gifts. If I take him he won't be able to.”

“Have I not brought you gifts before?” Tony asks. “When I’ve pruned Yggdrasil in the past, have you not received entire realms worth of gifts?”

“I have,” Death agrees. “Very well i’ll take him, but you must promise that you’ll offer me at least one more gift like those of past.”

“I will.”

-

Chitauri fall from the sky, Loki smiles.

Thanos is dead.

-

“Where did you go,” Captain Rogers asks, “When you fought Thanos?”

“Between realms,” Tony murmurs. “But that's all I’ll say to you. I need to debrief with Fury first.”

-

Fury stares down at Tony angrily, “Let's try this again. How do you know Loki?”

“I stole him away from his kidnapper when he was a child.”

Fury twitches. Tony smirks, then looks down at his watch.

“Look at that, your twenty minutes are up.” He stands and pushes his way past Fury out the door.

The Black Widow is waiting for him, “If you won’t tell him the truth, tell me this, where is Loki now?”

“I was telling the truth,” Tony corrects here while wagging a finger. “As for Loki, he's probably on Asgard, killing Thor. The brute won't take him by surprise this time.”

“I see,” she says slowly.

Tony smiles in return, “Don't worry, he'll be back.”

-

Loki does return, and he lives his life along side Tony. After the Chitauri invasion, Tony Stark knowing a blue alien isn't the weirdest thing they've seen. The fact that he's in a monogamous relationship with said alien is, but not because of the alien factor.

-

“Why didn't you come get me while Thanos had me?” Loki asks one day as they lay together in bed, “Why'd you wait for him to come to you?”

Tony sighs, running a hand through his hair. “It's a long story so settle in.”

“I'm settled,” Loki announces leaning into Tony.

“My people, we’re called Immortals. There’s only one way to kill us (though we can be injured by others, hence the arc reactor). It's with a certain metal alloy found at the center of a supernova. That alloy is very rare and there's only enough to have made one weapon, Andált, which is tightly guarded and used only on criminals who do not follow the guidelines of their assigned punishment.

“One day, my father locked me in a cage and decided to try out other metal types and see if they could kill our kind. Obviously, they didn't kill me, but as I said before, we can still be hurt. I was very nearly crippled by my father’s actions, so I decided not to let him get away with it. Several millennium later, when I’d fully healed from the damage he'd wrote on my body, I stole Andált and used it on my father.

“Death is a concept my kind can barely grasp, and thus my punishment was to grow Yggdrasil and spend eternity among her branches. I am either to spend my life alone, or watching those I love grow old and whither away in a death natural to every kind but ours. Should I ever leave Yggdrasil’s branches, Andált will be used on me.

“Was I wrong to think you would like me alive to welcome you back?”

-

The Avengers move into the tower, though they don't ever learn who Tony truly is. Tony ages himself according to the human rate, a fact that amuses Loki to no end. When he brings it up though, Tony simply reminds him that Loki became so attached to the humans that he joined the Avengers too.

-

He kills off the identity of Tony Stark at ninety-three, secure in the knowledge that those of his friends who are still around will be safe with out him and he cannot return to Midgard unless he wishes to disguise his arc reactor. He will not remove it, not with all the magic he's imbued it with.

-

Tony and Loki live among the branches of Yggdrasil in a situation both similar and different to the time before their separation. They walk among the realms and visit those that catch their attention. Occasionally, they visit Loki’s family on Jotunheim.

-

Loki ages, Tony does not.

-

Loki passes away approximately 5,000 years after he first meets Tony. He's old and tired, but he's also safe and happy, holding Tony’s hand as his lungs stop working.

A piece of Tony leaves alongside Loki’s last breath.

-

Infinity Gauntlet on hand, Tony prunes Yggdrasil once more. This time, he places his gloved hand against the warm bark of the trunk and whispers goodbyes.

“One last gift for you, Mistress Death.”

Then he steps out into the void, and meets his fate at his people’s hands.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
